Aug. 12, 2013

Written by

Tom Daschle

Byron Dorgan

Ken Blanchard

Michael Bennet

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ELK POINT — When Rick Weiland walked out of Pace’s Pizza Pub last Wednesday afternoon, he had convinced Ann Tornberg that he was the man Democrats need to win South Dakota’s U.S. Senate seat this year.

Weiland, a businessman and former aide to then-Sen. Tom Daschle, had spent an hour in Pace’s, part of a hectic barnstorming tour across the state. He’ll typically roll into a small town, stop in half a dozen Main Street businesses to say hi, then meet with voters in a local cafe or restaurant. It’s difficult to judge the results, but Weiland said he’s racked up dozens of converts over some 50 communities.

But he hasn’t convinced Michael Bennet to join Team Weiland. And that matters because Bennet, a U.S. senator from Colorado, is chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the man in charge of making sure that Democrats win Senate elections in states such as South Dakota.

“Right now, we are actively recruiting in West Virginia, Montana, and South Dakota, and expect to have competitive candidates in each of these states,” Bennet told the Washington Post last week, not mentioning the fact that Democrats already have a candidate in South Dakota in Weiland.

Campaign money at stake for Weiland

More than a year before the election, the Democratic senatorial committee’s lack of confidence in Weiland as a candidate isn’t a big deal. But if Weiland wins the nomination without getting Bennet on board, it could cost his campaign millions of vital dollars against the Republican nominee.

“I think the DSCC has backed themselves into a corner in the scenario that Weiland ends up being their nominee,” said Nathan Gonzales, deputy editor with the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report. “I think it would be tough for the DSCC to embrace Weiland at some point later in the cycle or put in any money after publicly shunning him.”

Tough, but not impossible. Daschle, a strong supporter of Weiland who was heavily involved in the Democratic senatorial committee in the past as the Democratic leader of the Senate, predicted the committee would let bygones be bygones.

A spokesperson for the Democratic senatorial committee did not return a message for comment on the South Dakota race.

Gonzales said Bennet doesn’t seem to be just talking when he mentions looking for another candidate in South Dakota.

“I can confirm based on a conversation I had ... that Democrats in Washington are still looking for a candidate that they can get behind,” he said.

No other potential candidates in sight

Who that candidate is is less certain. The two biggest names out there are former Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin — the DSCC’s original preferred candidate — and U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson, the son of U.S. Sen. Tim Johnson. Both have said they won’t run for Senate in 2014, and Tim Johnson didn’t think either was likely to.

“Brendan and Stephanie are still possibilities, but slight possibilities,” he said.

And Daschle said his discussions about South Dakota’s Senate race haven’t turned up any other interested candidates.

“I don’t know that they’re anticipating that anybody else will get in the race,” he said. “I think it’s fairly clear ... there isn’t any hint that anyone else is thinking about it.”

Weiland has reached out to the committee to make his case that he’ll be a competitive candidate with a good chance of winning the seat.

“I met with them recently and told them I wanted to introduce myself,” Weiland said. “I basically said I don’t take any of their comments personally, but I’m running and I’m running to win. I’m going to be the nominee, and I think I’m going to run a very competitive race.”

That conversation was before Bennet talked publicly about still seeking a new candidate for the race.

'Credible people' in support

Gonzales said the most striking thing about the Democratic senatorial committee’s disinterest in Weiland is that whatever his strengths or weaknesses, he’s a serious candidate.

“He has so many credible people in his camp,” Gonzales said. “I think this would be different if he was just a perennial also-ran.”

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Those “credible people” include not just Daschle but a number of other current and former senators, many from the Upper Great Plains. Tim Johnson has endorsed Weiland and helped raise money for him, as have Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and former North Dakota senators Byron Dorgan and Kent Conrad.

“They certainly can recruit if they wish. That’s their prerogative,” Dorgan said. “The more they get to know Rick, the more I think they’ll find they have a really fine candidate who can be successful.”

Appealing to populist tendencies in S.D.

So far, Weiland is concentrating on running a populist, grass-roots campaign. At stops such as his Elk Point town hall meeting, Weiland rails against “big money,” “big insurance companies” and “big ag.”

“We need to take our government back from the big money special interests that are controlling it,” Weiland told half a dozen Elk Point voters at Pace’s.

That kind of talk is a good message for Weiland if he wants to win, said Ken Blanchard, a political science professor at Northern State University.

“South Dakota is a populist state,” he said. “If there’s one thing that’s consistent in our history, it’s been a suspicion of big banks, big government, big anything. If I was Weiland, that’s exactly the campaign strategy I’d push — complain about all the folks that are getting away with murder, taking advantage of and exploiting the average guy.”

That populist message possibly creates a silver lining to Weiland’s lack of support from the DSCC.

“Republicans want the Democratic nominee to be as tied to Washington as possible,” Gonzales said. “Being the anti-Washington candidate could be a benefit for Weiland if he’s able to raise enough money and create his own infrastructure.”

Reaching out to national Democratic Party

That last point, however, is a big if, Gonzales said.

A spokeswoman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee suggested Weiland is in line with national Democrats despite his lack of national support.

“Rick Weiland, he’s directly in line with the views that (Senate Majority Leader) Harry Reid espouses, and yet the DSCC shuns him,” said Brook Hougesen, the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s press secretary. “The question is why? Are they cognizant that their own views are tremendously unpopular in South Dakota?”

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Weiland said he’s not concerned with national support.

“We’ll see where the national folks go, but so much of my message is running against what’s wrong with Washington,” Weiland said. “My whole perspective on that is, I don’t really care if I’m their choice, or their preferred choice.”

“They can be very helpful in bringing additional resources and organizational strength to the campaign,” he said.

Daschle predicted the commitee would look at a combination of fundraising and polling to determine whether a candidate is strong enough to earn its support.

Working to earn support in small towns

Whether or not it works, experts said Weiland’s small-town “Take It Back Tour” seems like a smart strategy.

“Once you’ve had that personal contact with the voter in his or her setting ... maybe in a small town, one’s own cafe, it’s more memorable,” said Daschle, who used that strategy in early victories. “I think it has a greater impact.”

Daschle and Blanchard both said small towns might be a good focus early in the campaign.

“You can’t meet all the voters, but every time you show up in somebody’s town, that’s a sign you care about them, you’re concerned about them and want their votes,” Blanchard said. “Right now, I think the retail politics at the local level and the small town might be the best thing to do.”